USA not committed to keep Pak unity : Rogers
WASHINGTON, Dec. 24.—The United States is under no commitment to preserve the unity of Pakistan, the Secretary of State, Mr. William Rogers, said here yesterday, reports DPA.
Speaking to newsmen he denied any obligation on his administration to come to the aid of Pakistan under the provisions of the 1962 pact.
He said there had been “much communications back and forth” since then and that there was no commitment in a military sense”.
The only provision of this kind was continued in the South East Asia Treaty (SEATO); but it only applied to a Communist aggression.
Mr. Rogers emphasised that the USA supported national unity of Pakistan and rejected “secession.”
He declined, however, to speculate on how reunification of East and West Pakistan might be brought about.
UPI adds: Mr. Rogers, listed the “tragic events” in the Indian subcontinent as the greatest disappointment in the US foreign policy of 1971.
“There is peace in the area at the moment and we hope it will remain peaceful.”
Mr. Rogers said the USA had made no decision about the recognition of Bangladesh.
“We will have to watch events”, he said. “We will watch the developments and consider our policy, very carefully.”
The US policy, he said, in regard to the sub-continent was to “let the people in that area determine their own future.”
Mr. Rogers said that the USA, as a principle, favoured unity and opposed secession because secession could be destablising.
He said lack of US influence in preventing the war in the subcontinent “was a disappointment.”
In 1972. Mr. Rogers said, the USA would engage in humanitarian projects in the Indian sub-continent.
Meanwhile Mr. Marshal Green, US Assistant Secretary of State for East. Asian,
Pacific and predicts that major, world attention will shift in 1972 from Southeast Asia to Affairs the converging interests in Northeast Asia of China, Japan, the Soviet Union and the USA.
It was a time of change and some uncertainty, Mr. Green said in an exclusive interview.
He maintained that China’s biggest foreign affairs problems were with the Soviet Union, Taiwan and Japan. Its greatest population centres were in the northeastern part of the country.
The Soviet Union had a increasing interest in developing Siberia and had been increasing its force deployments there (military sources estimate one million men also because of border conflicts. Moscow’s principal foreign policy concern might be China itself.
For Japan, Northeast, Asia was of major concern, and the USA had security commitments to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan in this region.
Finally, divided Korea, the scene of a major war, was also deeply concerned with the future of Northeast Asia. There were interesting signs to talks between North and South through the Red Cross but the significance of the meetings so far was hard to discern, he said.
“In a way our diplomacy in 1972 will move with increasing focus on the big issues of Northeast Asia,” he emphasised. “That is likely to be the area of world focus in 1972 and beyond.”
In China, he said, there had been signs of increasing moderation since the cultural revolution ended. There had been greater interest in international mainstream.
Reference: Hindustan Standard 25.12.1971